Good morning.
The Réseau québécois sur l'intégration continentale is a broad network in Quebec that has been in existence and working on free trade agreements for 30 years. It brings together the trade unions movement, the women's movement, the student movement, the grassroots community movement and the human rights advocacy movement. It is also the oldest network of its kind, as a multi-sector network, in all of the Americas. More than one million people are represented in it.
I am going to begin with my conclusion and then continue from the beginning, given the time we are allowed. However, I must make two comments at the outset.
The first concerns the nature of the consultation itself. I am not certain, but I have the impression that, like us, you are concerned about the format of the consultation. Because the agreement has already been signed, civil society finds itself faced with two options: approve the agreement or reject it. So this is a consultation in which it is difficult to make recommendations. That is somewhat unusual.
My second preliminary comment is that we absolutely must look at the TPP in a broader context. We see it precisely as a structure that is being put into operation. I therefore urge the committee, as the elected representatives of our society, to take a broad view of the TPP, and include the agreement with the European Union. There have also been no consultations on that agreement, and it has not been signed. It is therefore possible to modify its problematic issues. The Trade in Services Agreement and the agreement with China must be part of a comprehensive picture. I therefore formally urge the committee, today, to study the agreement with the European Union in depth.
Before getting to my initial conclusion, I would like to urge you to step outside the rationale imposed by the free trade agreements, which is to define winners and losers. After 30 years with NAFTA, that is the perspective that we have adopted. We have done studies on the subject, and it is clear that the free trade model does not work. We have to free ourselves from that straightjacket, the idea that free trade is good in itself. We have to rethink the principles. We believe that we absolutely must base the discussion on principles of cooperation and complementarity, rather than on competition and taking markets by storm.
I was surprised to hear the chamber of commerce representatives saying, yesterday and today, that the TPP led to opening up of the Asian markets and a reduction of tariffs. The fact is that, in the countries covered by the TPP, 97 per cent of tariffs have already been eliminated. That's right: 97 per cent. When we hear that we are going to take the international markets by storm, we have to ask why our companies have supposedly not already taken those markets by storm. They tell us we are not ready, and they talk about information. Well, companies could have internationalized, but they have not done it. This brings us back fundamentally to the problem of the economic structure of Canada and of Quebec. That point has to be made.
The TPP is a bad agreement in economic, social, political and environmental terms. It is a bad agreement because it is not a trade treaty. It is a bad start, given that it is supposedly a trade treaty.
What is it, then? The TPP is essentially an agreement that will enable a system of rules to be set up that limits the ability of states to legislate. It talks about non-tariff barriers, but that is a euphemism. In reality, it is about legislation, protecting health, education, public services, measures to actively stimulate the economy, and the environment: in other words, all of the standards there may be to regulate and guide investments. That is really what it is about.
You have heard a lot about investor-state, the mechanism by which corporations can institute proceedings. We will say it at the outset: this mechanism must be removed from the trade agreements. It has no business there. I will not go on about this. You have heard enough speeches on this subject.
Public services must also be excluded from the negotiations. For the first time, culture is being put on the table, with a view to marketing.
Mandatory obligations for corporations have to be included, so we can return economic, social and cultural rights to their rightful place in the foreground, above the private rights that are already adequately protected by...